Please help me find somewhere to stay

[Disneydreamer5]

So after trying very, very hard to book a trip to Disney for sometime in December while DD is on break from college I have realized that its just not affordable for our family of 7 at that time of year. Universal will cost be half of what Disney wants, so I guess our first and only trip in 05 is going to be the last for some time. Anway,
I have been playing around with the idea to take them to Univerisal instead.
I have been told that the kids will probably like it a lot more then Disney and I am ready to find out.
We are a family of 7, mom, dad, 4 daughters, 18,16,14 and 11 and one son 15.
We need somewhere that gives us some kind of free food, lol,weather its continental breakfast or a bagel at noon I do not care just so long as its free, we would like somewhere with shuttle service to all the parks{US,IOA,and SW} we will be driving but I think a shuttle would be nice however I can do without if it has the other things I am looking for.we also need somewhere that we can all fit in one suite or that has 2 bedrooms. I found 2 places on Univerisals website but they appear to be timeshares and I do not want to be bothered with that on vacation with the kids. It was bad enough when it was just me and the hubby.
I will not be able to tolerate it on a family trip. I am more concerned about spending time together somewhere nice and clean where we can rest at the end of a busy day. I plan to take them to US, IOA,SW and maybe the new water park but haven't decided yet. The rest of the time will be spend hanging by the pool and having a nice meal from time to time.
If anyone has any suggestions for me I would really appricate the help.
We would be traveling December 18th - 24th. We are driving from Jersey and this is their christmas gift. I just want a nice vacation but Univerisal is all new to me. Thanks all.

 

[Ileana]

Have you looked at staying onsite at Universal?

Check the Resort section of this board for info. The onsite hotels are awesome and the perks are very worth it.

I see that you're 7 and I'm not sure about total # of people and the pricing, etc, but check it out

edit: Poop seems like it's 5 max per room so you'd need 2 rooms???? I don't know if they do suites and it's pricey

Sorry i'm no help

 

[donaldduck352]

Go to Orbitz.com,They are advertising the International Plaza Resort and Spa for$67.60 a night for that time of year.This is wright on International Drive.
Never stayed there myself but looks really nice..
Let us know what you come up with

 

[Tinker-tude]

I'd check Orbitz or Hotels.com, or one of those types of sites. They let you put your needs into the search criteria, and it'll pull up the possibilities. You can see what looks promising and call the hotel to make sure they have everything you need for your particular circumstances. I've heard the Doubletree is nice. If the budget allows, you might want to try Embassy Suites. They have a free breakfast buffet that is really good. If you can stay onsite, that's the best way to get the most out of your vacation time.

Also, I think once you see the parks you'll want to spend all the time you can there. They are GREAT!!!!!!!

Tamie

 

[pamouselover]

We stayed at a couple different ones, they are always very nice and clean. You can not beat the breakfast bar. Pm me if you need a code for a discounted rate.

www.lq.com

 

[goofy!]

With your size of party, you might want to look into one Annual Pass to get the room discounts and the restaurant and gift shop discounts. The APH will get you 10% at all the restaurants in the parks and most of them in City Walk. You only need 1 for your whole group and with a party of 7, the meal discounts would probably pay for the pass pretty quickly.

During your time frame, there are usually big AP discounts on the rooms, such as $139.00 per night at RPH. The discounts usually end 12/23 as 12/24 starts the holiday pricing period. And since the second room would be for minor children, Loews usually rescinds the 1 AP holder per room rule and allows parents to book a second room for their kids on their Annual pass.

If your budget affords it, you may want to try at least a couple of nights on site for FOTL (express pass access).

You are also not only allowed, but encouraged to pool hop between the three onsite hotels. Everything is close, within walking distance of each other (well, you might need to take the boat from the Royal Pacific to the Portofino), so it makes for a great vacation when you are doing pool time.

As for the free breakfasts, we have (and many others) stopped and purchased a cheap styrofoam cooler to fill with breakfast items. You can put milk, cream cheese, juices, sodas in there. The ice machines are usually pretty close by, so refilling is not a problem.

 

[Darcy03231]

If you're planning on going to all those parks you might want to look into the Orlando 5 park flex pass. We did that last summer. You get 14 days unlimited admission to Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, Busch Gardens, Sea World and Wet n' Wild. As I recall we paid about $235 (including taxes)/pp. I bought the tickets through Undercover Tourist.

With the size of your party I would look into renting a house. I went last year with 9 people and that's what we did. The house I rented was about 20-30 min from US/IOA and ran, with taxes, about $100/night. It was 5 bedrooms/3 baths, a full kitchen and private pool. I rented it from www.vacationrentals.com. I also considered some at www.vacationhomes.com. I found we saved a lot of money by eating in. We'd get up early, have breakfast at the house and get to the parks for opening. We'd stay until about 1-2 pm (it was getting hot and crowded then, we were there in August) and then go back to the house for something to eat, swim/nap and then go back the parks at night.

We had a great time and I found it was a very budget friendly vacation.

Good luck.